Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-12-23
JAP-IN.S CAPITAL.
scenes IL the Most Interesting CITY OF tn
Oriental Ki,sNd0Ns,

oec"ees ~ tue Most Interesting City Of the
Oriental Kingdom.
New Orleans Times Denocratl
There is something impressive about
approaching the city of kyoto, which
tor many hundreds of years, until al
most the present day, has been the
capital Of nation whose King occu-
pies the throne by right of an uninter-
rupted succession of twenty-five CEN
turtles. What other nation can show
such record? Surely not China,
whose dynasty has been changed several
times, nor India, nor any of the
european powers. Kyoto is city rem
dered almost sacred to this people by
the religious and historical memories
and legends that cluster about and
center IN it. 1t is, ON the whole, the
most interesting city in Japan. for il
seems to have conserved the old STYLE
OF Japanese life and architecture-es-
peclally religious architecture - and
has that particular arena of age which
IS most charming to the foreign visitor,
as indeed it is to the native Japanese.
A Japanese delights in nothing more
than grove of venerable trees, grouped
about an ancient temple, within whose
dlmly-lit recesscs sit the gilded images
OF their worship. I say hero
worship. for large majority of the
temples exist as monuments Of priests
OF long ago, who, having brought
sacred relics from China or India and
built shrines lived ascetic lives, and,
says correspondent, after death were
apotheosized. But let me try to de-
scribe few scenes in the city.
Kyoto is situated in q sort of anlphi-
theater in the mountains, horse shoe
opening toward southwest. The bust
ness and residential part of the town
lie on the level tract OF land inclosed,
while most of the temples occupy sites
along the rapidly ascending slopes of
the surrounding mountains. Starting
early one morning from the Yaami
Hotel, delightful place overlooking
the whole city, directed my jinriksha
boy to take me to the temple of Ken
mini. Let the description of the
general features OF this temple suffice
for all, for they all have certain
Textures in common. You enter from
the street through 8 high arch of wood
made OF two immense upright pillars
and cross piece, which curves down
instead OF up and which extends far
beyond the uprights. You ascend sew
eral flights Of stone steps, sometimes
passing between stone images and
shrines and stone lanterns, until you
reach the platform on which the temple
proper stands. Here you remove your
shoes, and perhaps pair of slippers
will be. provided you. You ascend the
short fight Of steps Immediately in
front of the temple and find yourself
in sort OF wide porch extending along
the whole front of the editice and up
held by several rows of massive wooden
pillars. Behind these. is row of
Ao1Sc, ph4S4AcO NOoIS, dASo eAteAulAS
clear across the building, but you will
find only the middle two open. Within
you encounter other rows Of pillars up
holding the roof, and behind these in
the exact center sits the image. sur
rounded with the censers and para
phernalia of the priests and with what
ever attendant images there may
happen to be. Near approach is pre-
vented by wooden railing. A wooden
box stands in front of each image. It
is furnished with wooden Stats across
the top, and into it are thrown the
offerings of the worshipers. The
grounds of the Kenninji are beautifully
laid out in lawns and walks. In the
eaat1eyn part of the grounds hangs an
ola;ljell, which for many years lay in
the river bed, buried in debris. 1t is
said that Ye Sal, an eminent priest, at
tempted to have it recovered, but the
men were unable to move it till he
cried out to them to shout his name,
when OF course it Immediately became
manageable.